Hello, I recently saw the lee enfield on Frontier Outfitters with a pined chamber (https://frontierfirearms.ca/lee-enfield-no1-mk3-303-british-w-brass-oiler-pinned-chamber/) And its a really cheap way to get your hands on a enfield, however, Im wondering if its something than can be easily removed at home, and if it is are these guns fit to shoot?
Pined Chamber Lee Enfield. Can they be shot?
- Thread starter CL2000
- Start date
The chamber is drilled side to side and the pin welded in. Chamber strength is compromised. Would be extremely dangerous to shoot. Possibly a good way to get the wood and metal bit to restore a sporterizd rifle.
The only way I would consider shooting one would be if it was converted to .22 rimfire with a liner.
I would suggest that $430, plus delivery, plus tax (i.e. over 500 bucks all in) for a battered rifle with a rod welded through the receiver ring and chamber is not exactly cheap.
I would suggest that $430, plus delivery, plus tax (i.e. over 500 bucks all in) for a battered rifle with a rod welded through the receiver ring and chamber is not exactly cheap.
The chamber was pinned, because the rifle was deemed not safe to shoot anyway, if it was pinned by the military.
These were often used as 'Drill' weapons, for doing and practicing Parade Drill by Cadets mostly. The red and white stripe denotes it as a Drill Only gun.
The only way to make it a safe shooter, is to source a decent condition barrel, and have it installed by someone that knows what they are doing, and that has a suitable supply of spares to make sure that the correct length bolt, among other things, gets installed.
30-ish years ago, there were literally buckets of decent barrels available for ~$10 per, at gun shows. Nobody wanted them. Not so much these days.
If you buy one, use it for parts, or as the wall hanger it is.
If the one they are using as their poster child, is to go by, they are in pretty sorry condition too. Pass.
These were often used as 'Drill' weapons, for doing and practicing Parade Drill by Cadets mostly. The red and white stripe denotes it as a Drill Only gun.
The only way to make it a safe shooter, is to source a decent condition barrel, and have it installed by someone that knows what they are doing, and that has a suitable supply of spares to make sure that the correct length bolt, among other things, gets installed.
30-ish years ago, there were literally buckets of decent barrels available for ~$10 per, at gun shows. Nobody wanted them. Not so much these days.
If you buy one, use it for parts, or as the wall hanger it is.
If the one they are using as their poster child, is to go by, they are in pretty sorry condition too. Pass.
No kidding, almost makes you wonder if a certain someone is back calling some shots..?
The chamber adapter would certainly contain the pressure. The rifle chamber would not be involved in pressure containment.
The rod through the receiver ring and chamber would have to be removed, plugs installed, the welds cleaned up and the notches in the forend patched.
You would then have a DP rifle capable of firing a .303 cartridge. NOT a good idea. Rifles were relegated for DP use for a variety of reasons. One was that the rifle was deemed unsafe to fire.
Incidentally, are the firing pins intact? Sometimes they were clipped. Firing pin holes welded?
If the adapter was welded in I could see it being safe. So a regular 303 round couldn’t be chambered. Extraction would have to be worked out.
I figured as much... Very nice. Now how to get one of the rifles that aren't beat to total crap?
Either hand picked or personal shopping. Those rifles are probably pretty rough. I know the Indian DP P-14s and Mk. III Rosses were trod upon, in addition to the holes, rods and welds. Ironically, the ones I inspected had really fine bores.
I used several of those take off barrels to rechamber for 30-30 Winchester, as there was enough metal to make it work.
The rifles I picked up from International all had pristine bores in them but the stocks were ridden hard and put away wet.
I did manage to save most of the receivers/bolts/metal etc and use it later.
The finish on the metal of the rifles I picked up was mostly worn off and the rifles had huge DP stamped on the receiver ring.
Only one of the receivers didn't stand up to hardness tests and none of them had any visible cracks after magnafluxing, either before or after barrel removal.
I did notice with P14 and P17 actions that if the receiver rings were magnafluxed before barrel removal, they seldom showed a crack present. However, it seems that removing the barrel caused enough stress to create cracks in vulnerable receivers, of so it seemed at the time.
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What I would do... I would get a small machine shop to do a bulk order of chamber adapters, hopefully get them down to a reasonable amount, and get maybe 100. Then you can have a .32acp mag fed rifle. Wouldnt even need to worry about extractor mods. But I do get the danger of chambering live .303. I guess if you're just doing it for yourself and you know personally know not to shoot live in it then it's fine.
